Sad affairs in todays politics (Personal View)

[Malimn]

Sad affairs..

Today Politics has become a major joke and the way the founding fathers setup Congress, President, etc has gotten sooo far off base it is original base and design. What is sad is that people will vote straight party ticket and not know a thing about the candidate in question and believe what they hear. I listen to radio broadcasts, watch TV shows, and everything you hear or listen to has become a “Spin Show” and how to twist the story to favor one person or the other. What happened to the days of just reporting the news?? And what happened to the days of believing what a politician tells you they stand for and not just telling you what you want to hear to get a vote???

Welcome to the Health and Welfare state we have become over the past 30-40 years. With the sad state of affairs I refuse to join any political party, have voted Dem, Rep, Ind and I grew up in Orange County California which is HUGE Reagan country. I just have become disenfranchised with the how political system operates nowadays unfortunately.

In today’s society the majority of people believe they should be given stuff like welfare, healthcare, social security, etc and that the government owes them something. Welfare was designed to only “Help people” people get back on their feet not something to let them live off of like it has become today. Look I have no problem helping people but dang it if I like to see my hard earned tax dollars go to someone who refuses to work and enjoys living in a HUD house and driving a 20 thousand dollar car. My family raised me to become self sufficient and not to rely upon others to provide for me and my family. Today we are raising people who believe they deserve a job out of high school which pays 30k and higher and refuse to do menial jobs!! While I was in high school I had a “Menial” job because I wanted some spending money for dates, food, etc.. but I see a lot of kids now a days refusing to take such jobs and want to get welfare. Also kids having kids and straining the pocketbooks of those who work is not fair as well. This is not a black/white/Hispanic/etc problem this is a society problem that should be changed via education or thru some type of system. My head is not buried into the sand and know kids will have sex and there are those who will not. So if a kid is going to have sex then I am for the condom program. A 2-3 dollar condom is better than a Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ---- bill of tens of thousands of welfare/WIC/healthcare/etc to help take care of this child.

Health Care…. Man this has turn us into a “Socialized” government just as welfare has. Can someone PLEASE tell me where in the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, etc that states that Government ran health care is a right??? With the high costs of medical bills nowadays, thanks to Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ---- health care lawers and drug companies, non paid health care is spiraling out of control. When I was growing up IF you could not afford the medical bills you paid on time or you had some type of “Subsidized” health care plan.

Taxes and social security… High and OUTRAGEOUS taxes is why this country exists today.. Our founding fathers left Europe due to either high taxes or they were in deep trouble with the law. We revolted from England due to their high tax rate (Our current rate is TOO high) and we have nothing we can do to fight the high rate of taxes out now adays, and I am getting sick of the “Funding” for the arts, and other non essential programs out there. Each time I see the Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ---- commercial of the guy with all the question marks on his shirt, I get Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ---- off because this is NOT what our taxes should be spent on. You want to start your own business, SAVE the money to do so or borrow it via a loan from a bank. Don’t depend on the government to help you start your business. Go to college, do the same… WORK for the money while your in school, take a loan, parents help, etc… Don’t expect the government to pay for it. Social security today is being used as a bartering chip to gain votes. The sad part about it is that those of us who have paid HUGE amounts into the system in all actuality will never see a dime of it because they keep saying that the system will become defunct in the next 15 years or less. Per the IRS thing I get in the mail each year I have already fulfilled my obligation to receive money from the IRS. BTW I am only 39 but have been working since I was 16. Will I ever see anything from this??? I doubt it.

Today we try to change the laws to make everyone feel better and for what??? Laws are there because they are needed to keep order in society and when you start to “Bend and change” the rules to make them more comfortable you lose the order. You break the law then you pay the penalty for your actions and do not look for a reason to blame others like society for your faults and why you broke the law. People need to take, GASP, responsibility for their actions and not blame others for their actions.

Oh well... just wanted to post the way I feel here and I am voting for BUSH because of the job he did 3 years ago, the war in IRAQ which was justified and I can say that because I saw with my OWN eyes what his troops did to the Kuwaities and the crap he pulled after the war, and the fact that he will do what he BELIEVES is right and not float with the poll winds as Mr Kerry does.

[hpurvis]

So the only choice is Bush or Kerry. You don't have a chance with the libertarian. What are you going to do. Help out Kerry with a vote against Bush. Bush is far from perfect but a whole lot better than Kerry.

You know and I know and we all know the politcal scene is sickening and it is going to take along time to change it and I am not sure enough Americans will get upset enough to change it..

[Schulze]

the lesser of 2 evils is still an evil

[GeauxLSU]

I've said it before, and I'll be disagreed with again, we'd be MUCH better off with NO political parties whatsoever. :banginghe Vote the PERSON period. You'd have much less special interests involved and I'm betting much more efficient congressional sessions.
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil

[Howard Roark]

Can you pinpoint when this change started?

[hpurvis]

the lesser of 2 evils is still an evil

That's true but what is your solution.

[hpurvis]

Hpurvis, my view is that I don't have a chance with Bush or Kerry.

Is that chance or choice?

[hpurvis]

Chance
I don't understand where you are coming form on this.

[Schulze]

HP nothing will change when people vote for party affiliation instead of the man.

[Howard Roark]

Don't expect the welfare/health state (big federal government) to change if you are voting for Bush.

When did this slide begin?

[gabuckeye]

I am not totally happy with Bush but I sure don't want to find out what Kerry would do.

[Howard Roark]

Don't expect the welfare/health state (big federal government) to change if you are voting for Bush.

When did the big government slide begin? How long has it gone on? Is it all a creation of GWB? Is it all Bushes fault or is it what the American prople want?

[JBowers]

When did this slide begin?

A little rusty, but I think the big slide began near the end of the depression. David, it is the people fault becuase it is what they (obviously not all of us, but a majority of us) have asked for. However, that also doesn't mean that a Pol has to give them everything they want. Just reside to oneslef that I am only in for a four-year term and go to work changing those things instead of buying bloc votes with additional, uneeded big programs (e.g. prescription drug benefit wrought with crap).

[Howard Roark]

A little rusty, but I think the big slide began near the end of the depression. David, it is the people fault becuase it is what they (obviously not all of us, but a majority of us) have asked for. However, that also doesn't mean that a Pol has to give them everything they want. Just reside to oneslef that I am only in for a four-year term and go to work changing those things instead of buying bloc votes with additional, uneeded big programs (e.g. prescription drug benefit wrought with crap).

What happens when they don't give it to us?

you are right concerning the timing. I would say the seed was planted under Wilson and the roots of todays problems took hold under FDR.

[JBowers]

What happens when they don't give it to us?

You are a one-term politician!

[Throwback]

I want ya'll to think long and hard about this quote:

The Constitution has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it.
Lysander Spooner, No Treason (1870)

T

[Throwback]

Go to this link for another perspetive on "wasted votes"

http://chelm.freeyellow.com/wastedvote.html

Here's a hint from the link:

"The lesser of two evils is still evil.

So what happens after you vote the defensive vote? Well, then you have sold out your personal beliefs. You have become a political prostitute. You aren't standing up for what you believe in by voting the lesser of two evils.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of being a political prostitute -- voting for the people who don't care if I vote for them or not. If you think the Republican or the Democrat candidate really does best mirror your beliefs, by all means, vote for that candidate. But if you don't, and you still vote for them, you're helping to preserve the status quo you probably despise."



T

[AAADawg]

Read some American Hiostory and you will realize that this country was on the brink of destruction after 170 years of domplete dominion by Robber Barons....if it werent for the changes made in the last 40 years most of here today would be living in card board shacks and begging for our existance. We suffer from some sort of romantic vision of independant Americans before the Great depression who made their own way in life and who never asked for any assistance. The fact of the matter is that the reason they never asked for any assistance is because there was no one to ask! every one except for a very small % of people lived not a independant existance but at the mercy of their employers who would hire and fire people and destroy their lives on a whim. Most of us true southerners didnt own farms...we farmed other peoples land. Were our forefathers independant? Are you serious? An independant self reliant share cropper??? There was no sucha a thing...they were at the mercy of the land lord just like any other peasant in any other fuedal society. Maybe it was the people who were working in Cotton mills that were the rugged individuals who were independant...give me a break!!!! They lived in Mill owned houses and shopped exclusively in Mill owned stores...they were as independant as any other slave in the history of the world has ever been. The fact of the matter is that it was the changes made just after the Great Depression that has made the US the greatest nation in the world because it was those changes that created the middle class. It wasn't until the 70's when it became en vougue to protect wealthy people no matter the cost to the middle class and realy took off when ronald reagan convinced us that our parnets were rugged individualists who were actually enslaved either to a tyrranical employer or land lord for the most part.

[Throwback]

And let me guess, this is all a direct result of the democratic party and their agenda. I guess it's irrelevant that most of FDR's policies were unconstitutional and still are.

AAA, Just because your family lived like that doesn't mean that most others did.

And I have read and studied a great deal of American history and I would bet more of the constitution than the average government school graduate.



T

[AAADawg]

>>>>>>>>>>>And let me guess, this is all a direct result of the democratic party and their agenda. I guess it's irrelevant that most of FDR's policies were unconstitutional and still are.

AAA, Just because your family lived like that doesn't mean that most others did.

And I have read and studied a great deal of American history and I would bet more of the constitution than the average government school graduate.



<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<


The avearge lower middle class family today...which is the vast majority of Americans...families did live in similar situations. they may have been employed in a steel mill instead of a cotton mill but the situation was similar or they may have lived as migrant farm workers on the west coast but the situation was similar....the robber barons had gotten so arrogant with their exploitation of the proletariat not to mention the enviroment that the very people whose throat there foot was on were about to rise up and take away there ability to exploit them any longer in much the same manner that they had done in France and Russia. If it had not been for the bones tossed to the masses by FDR and the Democrats we would have seen a workers revolution in this countyr that would have resulted in decades of instability and suffering. Instead with some simple changes in social thinking this country was able to avoid such upheaval and become the worlds only super power left...of course some would have us return to the day of living in mill houses and shopping in mill stores and owing our allegiance to a land lord like the serfs we were before the new deal.

[Howard Roark]

...The avearge lower middle class family today...which is the vast majority of Americans...families did live in similar situations.

I have read before that over 50% of Americans today are members of the investor class.

[AAADawg]

"Cotton on the roadside, cotton in the ditch.
We all picked the cotton but we never got rich.
Daddy was a veteran, a southern democrat.
They oughta get a rich man to vote like that.

Well somebody told us wall street fell
But we were so poor that we couldn’t tell.
Cotton was short and the weeds were tall
But mr. roosevelt’s a gonna save us all.

Well momma got sick and daddy got down.
The county got the farm and they moved to town.
Pappa got a job with the tva
He bought a washing machine and then a chevrolet."

Alabama, "Song Of The South"


Yeah, I'd say that FDR's new deal policies saved this country and especially the South. Some of them were indeed unconstitutional and they were stopped but not before they had already worked. Like it or not the 'Greatest Generation of Americans" knew all to well how close this country came to destruction and how FDR and the democrats pulled it away from the brink and solidified the position of the middle class for at least the next 6 decades...and hopefully longer. Of course history and mankind must constantly repeat itself so now it is time for the middle class to become a victim of its own success and in the interest of keeping anyone from getting a little taste of what they have they will allow themselevs once again to placed in the position of being a serf in a moder day fuedal system. It is a shame that ya'll didnt listen to you Grannies and Grandpas and understood just exactly how difficult it was to earn a living in this country before WW2....of course wht did they know? After all they were just old folks who didnt even have TV's when they were young......


"Pappa got a job with the tva
He bought a washing machine and then a chevrolet."

You gotta love that line!!!!! Thank you FDR!

[Throwback]

Too bad FDR's communist policies will be the cause of the next depression.

T

[Throwback]

I have read before that over 50% of Americans today are members of the investor class.


This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine...... ;)


T

[AAADawg]

I have read before that over 50% of Americans today are members of the investor class.

You realy should stay out of the Fiction section of the local book store then........I know you wouldnt set foot in a communist organization like your local library.

I reaad that the only job market that was gowing was the parasite class...people who live off the tax payers dollars...like School teachers and librarians and other Govt. type parasites.... ::ke:

[GeauxLSU]

You realy should stay out of the Fiction section of the local book store then........I know you wouldnt set foot in a communist organization like your local library.

I reaad that the only job market that was gowing was the parasite class...people who live off the tax payers dollars...like School teachers and librarians and other Govt. type parasites.... ::ke:Howard, aren't you a teacher? Parasite? Personal attack? Naw, surely not.... :pop: :rolleyes:

[dixie]

Look back at recent history, things started downhill with jfk and been going down ever since. This is when the demorats started acting like welfare workers with giveaway programs.

[Throwback]

You realy should stay out of the Fiction section of the local book store then........I know you wouldnt set foot in a communist organization like your local library.

I reaad that the only job market that was gowing was the parasite class...people who live off the tax payers dollars...like School teachers and librarians and other Govt. type parasites.... ::ke:

You mean the class that is the dems bread and butter? I thought you think FDR is god incarnate, and he created all kinds of parasites. :huh:

T

[Howard Roark]

Howard, aren't you a teacher? Parasite? Personal attack? Naw, surely not.... :pop: :rolleyes:

I am a public school teacher.

I also have a very thick skin and always consider the source of the comments.

I take very little as personal unless it comes from my wife, then I quickly say yes mam just as I should.

[Howard Roark]

You realy should stay out of the Fiction section of the local book store then........I know you wouldnt set foot in a communist organization like your local library.

Beware the Wrath of the Investor Class

Lawrence Kudlow

A brand new, hot-off-the-press survey shows that the American investor class continues to grow by leaps and bounds. In the last three years, the number of families owning stocks has risen to 56.9 million from 54.1 million, meaning that nearly 60 percent of U.S. households are invested in equities today. That number is even more striking when you look back twenty years, when only a fifth of households were card-carrying members of the investor class. The Investment Company Institute, one of the sponsors of the survey (which was based on five thousand interviews), proclaims that the U.S. has “become a society of equity investors.” The Securities Industry Association, another survey sponsor, believes that these trends will only intensify with the aging of the post-war baby-boom generation.

With the House and Senate now weighing crucial votes on whether to make permanent the 15 percent tax rates on investor dividends and capital gains, you’d think our elected officials would be considering the needs of America’s stock-owning families. But the Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi Democrats continue to oppose these tax cuts as nothing more than sops to the rich. Are they saying that three-fifths of American families are rich? Zogby polling shows that nearly all Americans -- 93 percent -- earning $75,000 a year or more own stocks. They can’t all be rich. And how about those earning up to $75,000 a year? In this group, more than half, or 56 percent, own shares. Of those earning below $50,000 a year -- a group that in the aggregate pays very little in taxes overall -- 30 percent own stocks.

The “tax cuts for the rich” argument just gets weaker and weaker as the investment class gets larger and larger.

The Republican Congress, meanwhile, can’t seem to get the job done either. Instead of winning one for the investor class, a vital part of their base, GOP politicians in Washington are attacking oil companies (whose shares are widely owned), reneging (perhaps) on the tax-cut extenders, and coming up blank on offering a strong budget-cutting plan. This is not yet a Republican crack-up, but it’s perilously close to becoming one.

The good news for the GOP is that Democrats continue to disrespect the investor class. But the bad news is that by failing to enact higher after-tax rewards for investors and job-creating capital formation in the overall economy, Republicans may be alienating their most natural supporters. In recent elections, nearly two out of every three voters were stock owners. Where will they turn if the Republicans they put into office no longer represent them?

In a recent speech to the Washington Economics Club, President Bush again expressed his strong support for investor-class tax cuts, and also for the necessity of additional spending cuts. But is one speech sufficient to make the case, and to really put the heat on Congress? I don’t think so. Good political marketing requires message repetition. Bush must make the investor-class case again and again, day after day, as Congress considers key votes on budget and tax policy. He must give voice to the investor class, becoming their representative in Washington; their advocate general. He must make it clear to the tone-deaf Republican majorities in both houses of Congress that they risk an electoral overthrow a year from now if they don’t heed the call of America’s stock-owning families.

It really has come to this breaking point. IRA and 401(k) owners are getting fed up with GOP recalcitrance. Nearly two-thirds of respondents to a recent CNBC poll actually believe that a Democratic majority in the House would be bullish for stocks. In other words, gridlock might be better than Republican government.

Polls like this, and perhaps the Democratic gains in the election earlier this month, are bad straws in the wind for the Bush vision of ownership, individual choice, and growth economics. Investors are risk takers and they know how to trade. If they see a stock in decline they will sell it. And they just may short the GOP unless they see a major turnaround in that company’s management and performance.

[AAADawg]

People were heavily invested in equities just before the Great depression also....Having a retiremnet account does not place a person in an "investor" class.....if you cant liquidate the money and put it in any investment your little heart desires then you are not an "investor" you are a "saver" who is banking on getting a better return than you would with your passbook account. There is very limited risk involved in most 401K's and Annuity accounts compared to actually trading equities...there are limits where most of the money can be invested.

[AAADawg]

Howard, aren't you a teacher? Parasite? Personal attack? Naw, surely not.... :pop: :rolleyes:


I was not aware that Howard was a teacher...I was just using one of the many words used to decribe Govt. employees on this board by many people. I realize NOW that when he is talking about reading to his 8th graders he is talking about his class not his own kids....I have the utmost respect for anyone willing to get involved in the lives of other peoples kids....I personally think that school teachers are just as much heros as Firemen and policemen because they do a job that is very difficult and for the most part thankless and are woefully underpaid for their efforts....I was only using the parlance of the right when I called teachers parasites....I apologize if any one was insulted......

[Throwback]

I'm quite sure if Howard can weather my posts about government school, he can weather AAA calling him a parasite!


T

[GeauxLSU]

I'm quite sure if Howard can weather my posts about government school, he can weather AAA calling him a parasite!


TYeah but your a product of gubment schools so he excuses you. :bounce:

[Howard Roark]

I was not aware that Howard was a teacher...I was just using one of the many words used to decribe Govt. employees on this board by many people. I realize NOW that when he is talking about reading to his 8th graders he is talking about his class not his own kids....I have the utmost respect for anyone willing to get involved in the lives of other peoples kids....I personally think that school teachers are just as much heros as Firemen and policemen because they do a job that is very difficult and for the most part thankless and are woefully underpaid for their efforts....I was only using the parlance of the right when I called teachers parasites....I apologize if any one was insulted......

I may have trouble getting my swelled head through the door this morning. No apology is required.